Are you taking advantage of your business internet connection to save money in your organisation? 

You absolutely should.

There is plenty of advice out there on unexpected cost cutting opportunities for your business, but one effective and often overlooked strategy is to tap into your existing internet connection.

After all, fibre or wireless internet connectivity is something you pay for every month. You may as well use it to keep costs down.

The good news is, you can do this without sacrificing your brand’s quality standards or cutting back on productivity. Your business internet connection will effectively replace some of the processes and things that are already part of your day-to-day operations. 

In this article, we’ll outline five areas where you may be able to secure savings to your operating expenses by swapping them out with their online equivalents. 

Ditch the landline for VoIP

One of the best ways you can save money is by getting rid of your old landline phones and switching to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. Also known as IP telephony, this technology allows you to make voice calls via the Internet. They offer a much more flexible experience of communicating and are much more feature-rich and cheaper than copper lines. Now that VoIP and internet solutions can be bought as a package, they can be combined into one convenient bill.

Use digital documents instead of paper copies

There’s no doubt that the office printer has a continued role in the workplace, but that doesn’t mean that paper is always needed. Encourage employees to use digital documents whenever possible to preserve printing supplies. For example, when you need to archive documents, rather store them in the cloud than have them on paper. When you hold a meeting, employees should be using their laptops for document viewing and note-making. Adopting a digital signature solution will make sending paper documents unnecessary when contracts need to be signed.

Choose email over snail mail

Using email can significantly reduce your business’ shipping and postage costs. While you pay for email through a service provider, the cost doesn’t increase with the number of messages sent. You can send as many messages, files, videos, documents and presentations to as many recipients as you want without having to pay extra. 

Jump on a conference call instead of meeting in person

There are circumstances when it’s best to meet face-to-face such as meeting a new client. But, for unimportant, smaller business trips, video conferencing enables employees to collaborate just as efficiently.

If your company has multiple offices, a travelling sales force, or remote employees, the cost of conducting in-person meetings can really add up. Expenses can come from many different things during the trip – air fare, petrol, ride hailing, accommodation, room service, restaurant meals and tips to waiters, parking, and tolls. Remember that when employees travel with the company credit card, they might be as careful to spend as they would with their own money. 

Shop office supplies online rather than in-store

When you need to stock up on essentials such as coffee or cleaning supplies, ordering them online is better than driving to the store. You will get the opportunity to compare prices for the best possible deals, as well as avoiding transportation costs and wasting precious time. Furthermore, some products are cheaper online as some deals are offered as online exclusives.

• RELATED POST: Businesses that need reliable internet the most

A reliable business internet connectivity can be so much more than just a means to work more effectively and productively. Maximising performance is often the first need companies identify when it comes to a connectivity solution, but, as this post has shown, the additional benefits of the internet extend to cost-cutting measures as well.